I Am Your Natural Enemy

After a single sentence, all the colors dissipated, and all the images turned into smoke and dust, carried away by the wind.

The Little Taoist was no more, leaving only a Taoist with tears streaming down his face, reaching out a hand, trying to grasp it all.

Tears streaked the Taoist’s face as he looked at Wen Yan, his eyes filled with pleading.

”I beg you, can I, just one more glance, just one...”

Wen Yan remained silent, so the Taoist continued.

”Don’t you want my answer? I can give it to you now. The person I miss has nothing to do with you. That statue, it’s not her, it’s definitely not her. Can I take one more look?”

The Taoist hadn’t finished speaking when the light here, as if nearly exhausted, dimmed.

In the dim world, filled with Death Qi and an eerie coldness, even if there were still colors, they seemed to be fading away.

The Taoist, having removed his Taoist robe, sat before a sickbed. Outside the window, lightning flashed like a torrential rain.

The woman on the sickbed had no color in her lips, and her face was as white as paper. She murmured to the man beside her,

”Little Taoist, actually, I tricked you that time.

”I thought about it for several years before I came up with the idea while watching the news. There really was crab roe in that tofu dish. I fooled you; I’m still a bit smarter than you.

”Stop worrying about additives; there were never any of the kind you ate. You need to eat properly and get your protein; don’t always be vegetarian.

”Now... I’m not sick. I’m just... just a genius. I’ve simply learned that ’Yin Spirit Leaving the Body’ trick you talked about. I’m going to find my grandma. I want to learn from her how to make the crab roe tofu taste the way you’ve tasted it.”

The long-haired man sat by the bed, silently choking up, his expression a mix of crying and a desperate attempt to smile.

As she spoke, the woman’s voice faded to silence.

The whole world began to collapse towards its center, a world of black, white, and gray, burying the last bit of color in its core.

Until the woman lying on the sickbed also merged into the world of black, white, and gray, the entire world violently collapsed.

In the gloom, everything gradually faded away. The Taoist knelt on the ground, sobbing in pain.

After a long time, Wen Yan took a soft breath.

”Just as I thought, the person you miss could not possibly be the Statue Ghost. You’ve known that all along, haven’t you? You just clung to that nonexistent hope, not daring to doubt it at all. You must realize that by relying on that Statue Ghost, it’s simply impossible to achieve your goal. Or have you already lost your way?”

The Taoist knelt on the ground, touching his forehead to the floor, his body trembling incessantly from his sobs.

He had broken down.

Wen Yan’s verbal assault hadn’t broken his defenses. It was the overwhelming Yang Energy, accumulated from the Explosive Great Sun and used to bless the retrospection—that beautiful memory, still holding color deep within the Taoist’s heart—that pierced him directly from within.

He could not resist at all.

Even the conviction that had brought him here was collapsing.

The most beautiful colors turned into desolation in an instant. As an outsider witnessing it all, Wen Yan felt suffocated; one could only imagine how the Taoist felt.

The Taoist tried to stifle his sobs, but gradually, he could no longer hold back. With his Taoist faith shattered and his beliefs destroyed, he found a part of his former self.

He then burst into loud, uncontrollable weeping, his entire presence exuding nothing but despair and regret.

The baleful aura of misfortune around the Taoist started to disperse, and his Power began to fade as well.

Wen Yan looked down in silence. He hesitated for a long while before switching to the second Temporary Ability. He wasn’t sure if he was speaking to the Taoist or just to himself.

”Since I’ve started this, I might as well see it through properly. I said I didn’t kill the person you miss, and you should believe that by now. That Statue Ghost, having perished beneath the most blazing Great Sun, is now gone with the wind. But the person you miss is likely still in some unknown, unreachable corner. I’m not doing this for you; a hundred deaths wouldn’t atone for your sins. I’m doing it for the sake of the Little Taoist and the girl; they deserved better. What you did before, you desecrated that beauty.”

Wen Yan switched to Soul Summoning.

The girl certainly hadn’t appeared in the mortal world as a Ghost; otherwise, the Taoist would have known.

Then, there was a high probability she was in this endless Nether Path.

Since I have the Temporary Ability, I might as well use it and accumulate some experience, Wen Yan casually found a reason to convince himself. He felt that, having come this far, the matter still wasn’t perfectly resolved.

He continued to bless with Yang Energy, accumulated by the Explosive Great Sun. With the image of the girl in his mind, he performed the Soul Summoning.

The next moment, a nine-tiered altar phantom rose from beneath his feet, and the phantom of the Soul Summoning Banner gently fluttered behind him.

A path formed from the coalesced radiance of the Great Sun extended from beneath the altar far into the distance.

Wherever the path of light went, the countless Ghosts of the Nether Path were pushed to the sides.

In the air, it seemed as though many voices were chanting softly, the vague sounds merging into calls.

The sobbing of the Taoist spread far and wide along the path of light.

Wen Yan stood atop the phantom altar, looking into the distance, his gaze following the illuminated path, stretching further than he could tell.

Finally, amongst a group of Ghosts, he spotted an ordinary-looking, indistinguishable, and unconscious female Ghost; she was the one he was looking for.